What we can learn when a country slides from experimental democracy to dictatorship

By consuming fake news, by refusing to engage meaningfully with their political opponents, by failing to participate in elections or voting for candidates that reflected their identity rather than their interests, Tunisians failed themselves, writes Borzou Daragahi

President Kais Saied did not pull the trigger, but he deserves a measure of blame (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

They had one job. Tunisia’s international backers and its own political elite had years to ameliorate the economic despair that triggered the 2011 revolution that toppled the country’s dictator that led to the Arab world’s most successful experiment in democracy.

Over the years, policymakers were warned repeatedly that the country’s poor economic prospects and bad financial decisions were unravelling public faith in democracy and turning the country into a breeding ground for despair and the return of dictatorship.

Last week, the North African nation reached a new nadir when a gunman within the security forces opened fire at Jewish worshippers on an annual pilgrimage to the southern town of Ghriba, which hosts a 2,600-year-old synagogue that is one of the world’s oldest.